weekend rides - the fable of the turtle and the hare

[lauraelmore1033]

Boy, we finished our ride at Magnusun park just as the rain started, so I saw how miserable that must have been. It was terrible driving home in that rain, I can't imagine having to continue riding in it! Hopefully the weather will improve for your next one! You are one strong lady.

[azfiddle]

Way to go! I think you're doing an amazing job with the P12!
And good advice.
Sharon

[Crankin]

The philosophy of the turtle and the hair always wins for me.
Good job, in horrible conditions. I would have been fighting my inner demons to ride through rain like that.

[lph]

Oooh, nice. I recognized your backside right away, Mimi, and I've never even met you!

Great story.

[Biciclista]

LPH!!! LOL!!

hey am I the ONLY one that rode??

[AppleTree]

LPH!!! LOL!!

hey am I the ONLY one that rode??

Oh, no...I was also out in our "on again, off again" convergence zone yesterday. It was sunny when I left the house, 10 minutes later it started raining. I thought...no.... I am desperate to keep riding, I am going to keep on. 15 minutes later the sun came out... 20 minutes later...well, you get the idea. Less then 15 miles, but still got to ride. Today we are doing a 40 mile ride on the Centennial Trail. Need to get some serious miles in before the STP, but our weather has NOT been cooperating one little bit.

I did have a personal best though yesterday. Two flats in one day! The first I noticed when I got home and was washing my bike off. The other after I rode to the bike shop to get it fixed and came home...flat AGAIN. Stupid little stinkin' piece of glass. Just bad luck...they did give me the 2nd tube for free at least. Rats.

Ride on!!

[Catrin]

LPH!!! LOL!!

hey am I the ONLY one that rode??

I rode! In a fashion, that is Winds were high yesterday afternoon but couldn't resist warm temps and sun...winds were FAR too strong for me though - at least in the wind-swept cornfields. As soon as I hit my first cross-wind I knew I was out of my depth and changed my route to get back to my car. Wind even pushed me into the other lane! Almost 30 minutes in the wind, and another 45 in a wind-protected nature preserve park.

You were awesome! I know how good it must have felt to know you weren't the last one in!

[malkin]

Way to go and Hooray for Turtles!

[Biciclista]

I rode! In a fashion, that is Winds were high yesterday afternoon but couldn't resist warm temps and sun...winds were FAR too strong for me though - at least in the wind-swept cornfields. As soon as I hit my first cross-wind I knew I was out of my depth and changed my route to get back to my car. Wind even pushed me into the other lane! Almost 30 minutes in the wind, and another 45 in a wind-protected nature preserve park.

You were awesome! I know how good it must have felt to know you weren't the last one in!

wow, that's scary wind!

[azfiddle]

I rode 31.5 miles yesterday with my DH. My daughter drove out to meet me at the farmer's market. My husband is still dealing with the after effects of his car-assisted bike incident and is riding his mountain bike to put less stress on his arm but I'm sure it was too much, too soon Normally, I am the tortoise, and he is the hare- no matter what he's riding- road bike, folding bike, or mountain bike, so I knew that he really had over exerted himself it when I repeatedly dropped him....and waited for him to catch up.

When we rode the 8 mile loop road through Saguaro National Park, we met a group of 30 cyclists from Quebec- they certainly got a warm welcome as it was headed for an unseasonably high temp in the 90's

This morning I just did a solo ride of 19 miles.

[mariacycle]

(((Biciclista))) I loved reading the story of your ride and feel so inspired Congratulations on your fourth such ride and I can't wait to hear about #5-#12!! By the way, DH sounds like a great riding partner

[Biciclista]

I rode 31.5 miles yesterday with my DH. My daughter drove out to meet me at the farmer's market. My husband is still dealing with the after effects of his car-assisted bike incident and is riding his mountain bike to put less stress on his arm but I'm sure it was too much, too soon Normally, I am the tortoise, and he is the hare- no matter what he's riding- road bike, folding bike, or mountain bike, so I knew that he really had over exerted himself it when I repeatedly dropped him....and waited for him to catch up.

When we rode the 8 mile loop road through Saguaro National Park, we met a group of 30 cyclists from Quebec- they certainly got a warm welcome as it was headed for an unseasonably high temp in the 90's

This morning I just did a solo ride of 19 miles.

ah poor guy. At least he's trying.

[kfergos]

Had an excellent vigorous ride yesterday. We rode to Snoqualmie Falls, and then on the way back got lost because of having to avoid flooded roads near Carnation.

I ended up with 73.8 miles and about 4800 feet of climbing. Averaged about 16.4 mph, but the last five or so miles the leaders picked up the pace and we were zipping along somewhere around 22 to 24 mph -- pretty speedy for me!

It was overcast the whole time and we got drizzled on a bit, but mostly we all just got totally filthy from the wet roads because nobody brought fenders (forecast was for partly sunny). Overall a fun ride.

[Biciclista]

Nice photo of you, what's up with the white ribbon?
and what do you mean no one "brought" fenders?? (LOL, mine live on my bike)
I was wondering how cyclists were faring with all the flooding up there. glad you finished with a smile!

I know what you mean about the grime, I cleaned my bike yesterday because it looked disgusting and discovered not only grime, but a slow leaking tire which might have been why the last 1/3 of my ride on Saturday was so tough. (Ya think?)

[kfergos]

Nice photo of you, what's up with the white ribbon?
and what do you mean no one "brought" fenders?? (LOL, mine live on my bike)
I was wondering how cyclists were faring with all the flooding up there. glad you finished with a smile!

I know what you mean about the grime, I cleaned my bike yesterday because it looked disgusting and discovered not only grime, but a slow leaking tire which might have been why the last 1/3 of my ride on Saturday was so tough. (Ya think?)

The white ribbon is reflective. I wear it for four reasons:
1. To identify me to motorists. If you're a driver, all bicyclists look pretty much the same. But if you see me with my ribbons once, and then see me again later, you'll know it's me. My theory is that connection -- "Oh, it's the same person I saw earlier!" -- changes me from Just Another Darn Bicyclist Slowing Me Down to a human being.
2. To be eye-catching and reflective when I ride in the dark.
3. To be pretty.
4. To be a wind sock so I always know which way the wind is coming from.

"Brought fenders" - This group is a fast-paced group that tends to have those race blade fenders you can snap on and off real quick. They only put those fenders on when the roads are wet. If it's really rainy, we'll all bring our rain bikes that have permanent fenders with buddy flaps. I have permanent fenders on my commuting bike, but on Lucy (the Fast Bike shown in this picture), I just use a rear race blade. Except yesterday I didn't.

We rode through a fair bit of water up there. I was unaware of the flooding until we got to a sign that said "Road closed due to flooding." We rode through anyway and some places the water was low enough to ride through; other places, we had to reroute. I can't imagine what's happening up there today with more rain!